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Summary

Most researchers have believed that
Homo erectus
lacked the social and linguistic skills to pilot the deep, fast-moving waters that separate most Asian and Australian faunas, but in this week's issue of
Nature, an international team presents new dates for stone tools from the Indonesian island of Flores that confirm
H. erectus's presence there 800,000 years ago. Although most researchers accept the new dates for the artifacts, questions linger about whether they are really tools, and researchers are sharply divided over the team's proposition that
H. erectus
used rafts and may have had language. But if
H. erectus
did indeed arrive on Flores by boat, it would mean that their cognitive abilities would be up for reappraisal and that the species was more adaptable than is commonly believed.